Can't Perfect Game do better with East Cobb?

quote:

Who do you voice concerns to - East Cobb or Perfect Game?

The owner of the facilities. Whether it is EC or a local HS, they are responsible for the facilities. Not the organization that rented the field, in this case the "renter" is PG. They have nothing to do with the way the facilities are maintained or ran.

You raise a good point and may be right. Even so, if Perfect Game is the organizer shouldn't it have minimum requirements of East Cobb and the high schools as part of any contract? One of them being you turn on your scoreboard. Hey, if you dont have staff then put some high school kids to work for the week. In three trips to East Cobb we have never seen a scoreboard in operation. We had the start of a game delayed the other afternoon, as the umpires stood waiting in 100 degree heat, while they mowed the outfield grass.
Maybe I'm cranky because of the heat, but we left thinking East Cobb and Perfect Game both fell short.

To be honest, I've always felt we fell short, each and every event we have ever run.

Some things are beyond our control and some times there's just room for improvement on our end.

There are no scoreboards in our Jupiter tournament either, but hundreds of teams from all over the country and even some outside the country beg to play in it. Not many complain about the lack of scoreboards.

Anyway, whenever scoreboards are working and available, we always use them.

The heat was something else, two hottest days in the history of Atlanta. Wish you would have had a better experience, similar to that of many others.

I think you should voice your concern to both.

Hey, no sense complaining about the heat. In the memorable words of Brian McNamee before Congress, "It is what it is.'' But every one of the East Cobb and high school fields have scoreboards. They can't all be broken or on summer break. You have 200-plus teams, a good number from out-of-town and accompanied by parents and family, so turn the juice on and run the boards. We're paying 200 bucks in passes for the week and wouldn't mind knowing the pitch count, inning and score.
No doubt teams are lined up for Jupiter and East Cobb because Perfect Game, let's face it, has a captive audience. Because they're lined up doesn't mean folks don't ***** about scoreboards not being used. Only point is why not make a good experience even better.

Non-working scoreboards have become a common gripe in the Atlanta area this summer...not just for PG events.
Disturbingly, one of the responses I'm starting to hear more and more is something akin to "stop complaining, you're lucky to be here"...or , "you're the only one who cares about scoreboards..."

The fact of the matter is that any organization which markets and sells a product or service better listen to its customers. There are plenty of examples of businesses which once held a virtual monopoly, only to tank when they dismissed critical feedback from their customers.

Now, regarding PG events, let me make a suggestion: Get your Gamechanger on! Each game is scored live on Gamechanger by PG personnel, and access to the full feed is free. I use my mobile device as the scoreboard, and while I'm at it, I'm able to check out dozens of other game statistics. Actually makes the game more enjoyable for me...(before you ask, no, I don't work for Gamechanger, just love the product).

I will tell you this, I have been living not far from East Cobb for around 25 years. My son has played travel baseball around here since he was 11 years old. He is 18 now. That is 7 years we have been playing at East Cobb and VERY rarely do the scorboards work there. This has been a running complaint about East Cobb for AT LEAST the 7 years we have been involved with baseball and playing at East Cobb.

For those of you not from around here, welcome to the club!! First let me state that this is the case for every tournament held there, whether it's CABA, USSSA, Triple Crown or any other tournament. It's not just PG. It has become a joke and I personally think it is inexcusable. ECB is supposed to be a top notch facility. They should have the scoreboards running. They are getting a super bad reputation, especially locally. You out of town folks only have to experience it, one, maybe two weeks ever. Us locals have been living it 4,5 or 6 tournaments a year for many, many years.

Keep complaining, maybe something will change, but I kind of doubt it.

Jayhook...

Sorry, but I have to take execption to some of your comments. While I do agree on the scoreboards, it's not that they don't work, someone doesn't take the box out and hook it up. With PG now running Gamechanger the scoreboards just don't get done consistently. They were on for a low percentage of the games.

You made a comment about all the East Cobb teams playing at the facility. Only the Astros and Braves (the premier teams) play there. If you look at the schedule, of the 11 other East Cobb teams, 7 games of pool play each, there were 4 games played at the complex. And the coach of the 17/18 Astros works the fields at the facility so that is why there games are there.

As for the trash, the players for the Braves and Astros clean up the trash in the middle of the day from the cans, and there are maintenance people (coaches) each night. That many games generates a lot of trash when people just leave it in the stands! Is this the way people act at home?

I personally feel that ECB does a good job keeping the park clean given the lack of caring I see from attendees, which also includes players in the dugouts that leave them trashed too. I realize this is a general statement and maybe you pick up your own trash, but there are many others that do not.

Sorry, but I just had to vent for a minute... and I reiterate that I agree with you on the scoreboards.

I do not work for ECB, but my son does play there...

From what I heard from my son he said the HS fields they play at are so NICE that it wasn't that big of deal to not play at East Cobb.He was shocked to see how nice the fields were in the area,way superior to any HS fields where we come from.We didnt make the trip but saw pictures.

It's not just a perfect game thing or a Georgia thing. Playing in the midwest throughout the summer, it is rare to see a working scoreboard. Even in high school season, we rarely see it. Last year in high school we hosted districts and the scoreboard was working. Everyone was shocked it worked at all.

Strange thing about baseball. Every other sport, the scoreboard is always working. I guess it is because baseball can be timeless.

Some schools around where we are don't even have lights for their fields.

The school facilities in that area are amazing.

As I recall in Jupiter since they are practice fields there are no scoreboards? Or even lights at red fields?

Seriously is this that important? Does this make or break an event? IMO, if I were there for my son to play good baseball and get exposure I would be happy if that was what was happening. Everything else is secondary.

We used to run tourney events at our HS and the team leaving dugout was responsible for clean up or they were fined. That should be a common courtesy as well as people picking up after themselves where ever they go. We go to pro stadiums where they pay people to do it but we still throw away our garbage.

In recruiting and scouting, scoreboards that work or don't work really has very little to do with who likes or doesn't like your son or who wins or loses the game.

There are soooo many people (and I bet reading this) who are not able to send their players to events such as these, be happy you are able to do so, enjoy and don't sweat the small stuff.

My comments not directed to the OP but in genera. Have often found over the years lots of complaining for stuff that others just can't always control.

Poor PG, I remember a few years ago, when they got hit with a hurricane (or something to that affect) and had to reschedule game day to day and people posted how unhappy they were at that!

I guess now I can complain about Perfect Game that with all the locations hosting games this morning, only two of them dont have the gamechanger thing keeping score. One of them is where my son is playing so I cant stay updated

It will be nice come Saturday when I go down and dont have to worry about that.

What I notice happen at games is that when you dont know the score, find the pitcher's parents and ask them. They always seem to know the score. Amazing the amount of people who will ask me the score and inning when my son is pitching. Heck, I can almost always give a play by play of the game.

I think when people pay a lot of money, they expect things they may not get from a regular (cheaper) tournament.

My son plays in the North Texas area. So far this summer we've played about 25 games between two tournaments and a league.

Total scoreboards? 2
The Oklahoma State Stadium had the scoreboard working.
A HS in a tiny Oklahoma town. Glencoe, don't blink, you'll miss it.

We've played on four other college fields and many more high schools with no scoreboard.

Heck, some of the HS fields had no restrooms unlocked.

For the last three years I've ran girls fastpitch tournaments in the DFW area. The park I rented did not provide much support at all. They showed up once every two hours to empty trash and check on the bathrooms. I could call them in an emergency but outside of that they were ghosts.

I hired my son and his buddies to work the water jugs and dress the fields between games.

I got complaints about watering the fields between games. They said it made it hotter. So I stopped.

Then they complained about all the dust.

I got complaints about not having scoreboards working.

I got the park to leave the controllers out but then got complaints because there was no one to work them. I stopped putting them out. My margins didn't allow enough to pay someone to work a scoreboard on four different fields from 8am to 10pm on Saturday and Sunday.

They got the best of me this year and I decided to stop holding tournaments. Working wih sports parents was about the worst experience I think I've ever had.

I feel bad too because I was the last tournament director left on my side of the DFW area. Now the teams in my area must travel further to play.

There is no way to build a better mouse trap. ...if you know what I mean.

quote:

Originally posted by RonBon:
I got the park to leave the controllers out but then got complaints because there was no one to work them.

I agree that the PG games in East Cobb were similar to other tournaments related to scoreboard. Also, you don't have to hire someone for scoreboard as a parent will almost alway volunteer to help with that part. In fact, I did at one of high school venues in East Cobb.

It would be nice if every field had a scoreboard. It does add something to the game.

I don't mean this as anymore than just telling the truth. If the scoreboard is that important please don't attend this event. You are likely to be disappointed at some of the venues.

On a brighter note, as of day 2 of the 17U, over 600 college coaches and MLB scouts have checked in. Ray Tanner was quoted as saying the following... When asked why he chose to make the trip to Marietta, Tanner said, “It’s simple. Where can you go for three weeks to see as many players as possible? Tanner said, “This tournament is a rite of summer as an amateur baseball player. It’s just a quality event for evaluating talent in a competitive environment.” While he didn’t give specifics about his next batch of recruits, Tanner did say that all but one of his future Gamecocks will play this week in the 17u WWBA.

BTW, for those who do twitter. #pgtourney trended yesterday at number 3 on twitter.

These events are not structured for the pleasure of parents. These events are structured to be a vehicle to get as many college and pro scouts to an event and see your son perform as is possible. It is a showcase event, not a game. The games that are played mean NOTHING! No one cares who won or who lost!

If you realize that no one of importance cares what the scoreboard would say, if it were there, you would have a greater understanding of the event, and the events purpose, for the players that choose to showcase their skills at these affairs.

It is not about the scoreboard, it is about assessing skills and tools.

It never occured to me beyond a passing thought about the scoreboards all the years that we attended these events. I don't think I ever thought about trash...! Who Cares! My son was performing in front of the people responsible for him reaching the next level. That was all that mattered to me, that was the only reason my son was there.

quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:
If the scoreboard is that important please don't attend this event.

If this was a showcase, I would agree. But, you might understand how it might be difficult for the players to actually play without knowing if it's one or two outs.

Probably, a note on the event page would properly set expectations 'scoreboards are out of our control, and may not work at all fields'

SultanofSwat,
I think a scoreboard is great. However any player that depends on a scoreboard or scoreboard operater to know how many outs there are has a problem.

floridafan,
Many, maybe most, of the teams playing in these tournaments actually want to win badly. They want those championship rings. Nearly every one of these tournaments ends in a big dog pile. It's exactly that type of competition that scouts and recruiters want to see talented players perform in. If winning wasn't important these tournaments wouldn't draw nearly as many scouts or recruiters. They want to see the players in a showcase or individual event to see him workout and evaluate the tools. But they also want to see the player compete against the best possible competition, playing for keeps. Showcases or tryouts AND playing games for keeps... That is the best of all worlds for scouting purposes.

PG, it can happen to the best of them, even Yankees/Cano , and umpires

I have to admit the facilities at East Cobb are lacking to say the least. When I went there last year I was expecting so much more.......anyone going there for the fields is going to be disappointed.

warningtrack- Really?

The East Cobb fields, and neighboring high school fields that are used, are some of the nicest I've ever played on.

http://www.eastcobbbaseball.com/facilities.php

J H - yes when we were there they were not in good shape - the high school fields were better. The comment above from a poster about how dirty the facilities were was very accurate as well. Maybe my expectations were to high, but when you look at the pictures of the facility you cant help but be impressed.

On the one hand I can relate to parents who might have traveled to East Cobb several years in a row, and never got to play at the main complex. We only went with our son once, and not only did he not get to play on the main fields, we were traveling to some very remote locations to play on HS fields.
However we did not go to EC expecting to play on the main fields, nor was it a major inconvenience to travel to the off site fields. Our goal was simply getting exposure which EC provides. Granted there are more coaches/scouts at the main facility, but typically the stacked teams are playing there as well.
I certainly do not blame PG for any shortcomings regarding the field conditions, cleanliness of the facilities, etc., which are the responsibility of the hosting staff that own the fields. We personally did not experience any of that at the HS fields we went to, nor did we see it the times we watched other games at the main complex.

Regardless, I thank PG for providing a venue that our sons can not only get exposure, but also have a great time playing the game that they love.

Putting up with no scoreboards and a little trash?
EASY.

Battling and beating 14U EC Astros at their home field to advance to 'ship?
TOUGH BUT REWARDING.

Seeing 14U hit one 425 feet to center on EC Field One ... with a wood bat?
PRICELESS!

I am here now in the 17 WWBA ....the score boards do not bother me or my sons. A few of the fields are in very bad shape. Some of the fields we have been to are in great shape.

I am more concerned about the next pitch my son throws to the batter than anything else.

I would think the scouts and recruiters are here to see individual talent, and if they see a kid throwing a good game and making adjustments in bad conditions I would think they would like that player even more.

I made mine read "you never know who is watching" before our trip. 2014 won his game, had a nice write up. 2 scouts asked him some questions and 2 other teams invited him to play with them whenever he could, one next week in the 16 year old tourney, so despite the conditions so far so good.

Play as well as you can and forget the rest.

Does seem like the scouts are only looking at pitchers, then catchers, and then who can really drive the ball.

Just left a WWBA game. No scoreboard, but I didn't hear anyone complaining. It was great fun (we won).

Before the game, I told son to watch out for no scoreboard. He says "why would I need that?" and looked at me like I had lost my mind. hahahaha

My son played PG events in Marietta GA and Fort Myers FL this summer. Not a single scoreboard was used, in Fort Myers most of the facilities don't have scoreboards at all. Guess you have to watch the game huh... Past few years he's played about a dozen of the local high schools and all but two locked up their scoring towers so no one could use it. At this point it's like complaining about not getting to see replays at the stadium, watch the game, or score it yourself. USSSA and TC fans get the same treatment. Oddly enough the smaller parks (younger ages) seem to have working scoreboards... visitor does scoreboard, home does the book.

Trash - trash everywhere. Deleted a lengthy rant. I'll summarize. If folks would put their trash in the cans the volunteers ( my son on occasion ) can keep up with the bags and cans of trash. If you eat and drink then leave it on the bleachers for the event fairies to come make it clean you get just that, trashed up seats. Vast majority of people you see working these events are volunteers trying to keep you safe and reasonably comfortable. Please pick up after yourself like it's the olden days and the parks will be incredibly clean for you. So much for shortening it.

Georgia does have some of the nicest HS and college baseball parks in the country, some of our county and town fields would rate up there with the best too. I am from Marietta so some bias shows. But it's hot and hot for a long time so be prepared.

I went down to Georgia for the 2013 tournament this week and came back yesterday. Since about the time my son hit high school, we have heard about Perfect Game and their tournaments being top notch. This was my son's first experience with going to EAst Cobb. Here are my feelings on some of what people have been saying.

Scoreboards--they are nice if they work, but no big deal if not. We are used to not having them playing for 10 or more years so you get used to not having them. When they work, great. Of the 4 games I saw the team play, I think they were on for 3 of them.

Remote locations--I drove 9.5 hours to get to the tournament, so driving an hour to some high school isnt that big of a deal. So it cut into my daughters swimming time. She survived. We had to drive an hour out to South Paulding High School. I thought we were in Alabama, we drove so long. But a beautiful complex and great field. And a working scoreboard! Hats off to Marietta and Kell High Schools. Incredible facilities.

East Cobb--yeah there seemed to be a lot of trash, but with a lot of people, you will have a lot of trash, and it also makes it harder to keep up with it. People just have to be responsible and pick up after themselves. Field 3 was great, but you could tell it was played on a lot. Lots of vendors making tons of money. Funny seeing all the pre high school kids coming over from their tournament buying up a bunch of perfect game gear and not buying their own tournaments souvineers.

My complaints

--I think $10 a game is a little ridiculous. My son has a Mizzou recruit on his team. After he pitched, I teased him that I just paid more today to watch him pitch then I will have to pay in two years to watch him pitch in college for Mizzou. To me, it just seems that everything you do with Perfect Game, it costs more money. You have to subscribe to get information on the web sites and what not, just seems to all add up.

--This is my crybaby daddy complaint. My son pitched in relief in two games. Second game, the opposing pitcher goes the distance giving up 6 runs. Our starter had a rough outing, not making it out of the first inning, giving up a few runs. My son pitches 5 2/3 innings of scoreless ball. The post game writeup includes the information of what the other two pitchers did, but no mention of how my son pitched. Granted, people can read the box score and see how the game went, but a mention would have been nice. Same thing happened to him in Iowa this fall. Seems Perfect Game loves the hard throwers and not the soft thorwing lefties.

But the bottom line is this. It doesnt matter what the parents have to complain about. My son said it was the best baseball experience he has ever had. That's all that matters.

Anything new with the new PG facility at Bartow County down in Georgia? Was supposed to open this summer, got pushed back a year. Has ground been broken?

I agree with warningtrack. My son went to the WWBA for four years. The first couple of years the EC complex fields were in great shape. The last year he went, 2010, the grass on the 3 fields was not in very good condition. Very worn out in the outfield.

They obviously get a lot of play and the temps are around 100 all of July so its not easy maintaining the grass.

All of the other stuff...scoreboards and cleanliness I didn't even notice.

quote:

Originally posted by Mark B:
Anything new with the new PG facility at Bartow County down in Georgia? Was supposed to open this summer, got pushed back a year. Has ground been broken?

I hope someone from PG will respond.

Since we were staying fairly close to the new proposed complex, I decided to ride by last Saturday before Keewartson's game. There was a very nicely landscaped office trailer, but nothing else. Maybe I missed something? I wish I had taken the time to go in the office to find out.

It is scheduled to be open for the 2014 season. Official ground breaking in late Sept of this year.

Wish we would have had it today with all the rain.

As a baseball mom, I say charge me what you will to watch the games, but be warned if you run out of t.p. I can get mighty grumpy.

And yes, that South I-don't-know-where-we-were-and-I live-in-the-Atlanta-area-HS was wayyy out in the middle of nowhere. As we say, "you can't get there from here". However, I agree upon arrival, it had a very nice field, etc. and they had the scoreboard working when we were there.

I have wondered why PG doesn't come up with a family pass for larger families. It is just usually just me and once in a while my husband, so it doesn't matter to me on a personal level. However, I know it can be a bit of a struggle for a few of our families when we go multiple weeks in the summer. Just a thought/suggestion.

All that said, my son LOVES playing on the ECB fields through these past years. He says they feel like home field to him. I told him shhhh, the ECB teams wouldn't appreciate hearing that comment.

Family passes sound like a good idea. Guess we thought allowing 14U in for free kind of took care of that in most cases. Maybe we should look into that (family passes).

Odd the way things work out. Nobody is complaining about scoreboards this week. They just want to get their games in between the downpours every day. We haven't seen this much rain in the Atlanta area since 2005.

I hear ya PG! Im just glad I was able to get my grass cut in between down pours this weekend!

BTW, you clean up pretty good! I saw you this weekend on the ESPN special about the PG All American selection.

For the record, this is what gets us excited.

Recruiting Journey Ends

My son also recently particpated in the PG 17U tournament at East Cobb and after sitting in the GA sun for 7 games have a few thoughts.......
First, the scoreboards, as mentioned by by bballman, have not worked in years, not just this year.....I think the statute of limitations has run out.....GC is free.......
Second and the larger challenge is how to determine a fair way for teams to gain the maxium exposure for the kids by playing at the EC Complex where all of the scouts and coaches congregate?. I sympathize w PG in trying to get 260+ teams rotated through, but I am curious how many games outside the EC complex RT actually attended.
I would be curious from PG Staff how these decisions are determined...
By the prior year finish or ranking?
By the number of years the team has participated?
By a National PG ranking?
Sponsorship?
Who takes care of the field?

Third, after 3 years of attending the PG WC, the kids from the East Cobb tournament have always been front and center in policing the area and have to give accolades to both PG and EC for cleaning up after that many people.....

quote:

Second and the larger challenge is how to determine a fair way for teams to gain the maxium exposure for the kids by playing at the EC Complex where all of the scouts and coaches congregate?. I sympathize w PG in trying to get 260+ teams rotated through, but I am curious how many games outside the EC complex RT actually attended.
I would be curious from PG Staff how these decisions are determined...

CB Son,

That is a fair question and obviously we deal with it every year. There are several venues, not just the complex, that are run by teams. They are responsible for grounds keeping along with everything else. So those teams need to play at their fields to take care of the grounds for all games played. This becomes vitally important when weather is a problem.

Many teams have played in these tournaments over the years. We try to look at which teams did not play at the complex previously and try to schedule them there. Scheduling is a huge job and based on many different things. Even the location of the hotel teams stay at is considered for travel purposes.

For the record, I’ve been at games in Alpharetta and South Gwinnett that have had well over 100 scouts and college coaches in attendance. I’ve been at the complex when only a handful of scouts and recruiters have been in the park. Teams and players are what draw scouts. PG scouts every game and most scouts and recruiters follow that closely.

In one of the recent tournaments a pitcher threw very well with only a few scouts watching. Later in the week that same pitcher threw in front of a very large crowd of scouts. Same thing goes for position players, actually happened to Mike Trout a few years back. It has always amazed me just how good these college coaches and MLB scouts are at finding players at these huge tournaments.

We do get some complaints; we listen to all of them because some are legitimate concerns. This year I probably heard a couple dozen complaints. Some claiming we are biased and actually cheat. Those are ridiculous and we pretty much ignore those who are that ignorant.

There were 941 games played in just the WWBA 17U tournament. Over 5,000 games played in the WWBA and BCS tournaments in the last four weeks. It takes hundreds of staff to do that. We don’t want to do anything stupid, but it’s nearly impossible for us to be errorless.

Anyway, the complex concerns are warranted for many reasons. That is the reason for the development, Lake Point, of a 16 field artificial turf complex that will be built north of Atlanta along I75. This will become the new headquarters for the PG WWBA.

Last but not least, I would like to applaud our people who ran the 16U WWBA and 17U/18U BCS that just finished in Georgia and Florida. Those tournaments fought rain and long lightening delays every day. The 16U WWBA had to make out a new schedule every day and then reschedule again as fields received more rain. Every game was played in all three events and a 16U champion was crowned at Georgia Tech in Game #875.

I’m sure most people don’t understand how difficult that was. It takes people who are willing to work around the clock. It doesn’t have anything to do with me, but I’m so proud of our team. The goal is to keep making things better for coaches, scouts and most importantly the players.

That is a mind boggling number of games! I can only speak to the WWBA and BCS tournaments we attended, which included East Cobb, Jupiter and the BCS in Ft Myers. I think PG did an outstanding job at these events! I never imagined so many games were played at these events!